Bahrain: At least 57 people, mainly foreigners, drowned when their dinner cruise boat capsized off the coast of Bahrain, officials said yesterday.
The boat's owner, quoted by Al Arabiya television, said the traditional wooden dhow may have been overcrowded and capsized when the passengers, who were aboard for a corporate party, gathered on one side.
Arab media reports said the captain had been reluctant to sail with so many on board the twin-decked boat.
"Things were going all right, people were dancing, people were having fun, but the boat was very crowded," Bahraini survivor Khalil Mirza said. "People were scared in the water. They were fighting with each other and screaming."
He said the boat listed as it made a left turn soon after it left the harbour and he used his mobile phone to sound the alarm. The Bahraini Coast Guard confirmed that a survivor had made the distress call using a mobile phone.
The dhow went down late on Thursday. By daylight, only the upturned hull was visible, with empty orange life-jackets bobbing alongside.
Some 13 passengers were still missing and Bahrain TV showed pictures of rescue workers using pickaxes to try to break through the bottom of the vessel.
Initial reports were that the dead included 17 Indians, 13 Britons, four South Africans, four Singaporeans, three Pakistanis, three Filipinos, a German and an Irish citizen, later identified as Derek Cunningham, from Drogheda, Co Louth.
The nationality of 11 of the dead had yet to be established.
Rescuers pulled 67 survivors from the water as the rescue operation went through the night, helped by the US navy's 5th Fleet, which is based in the Gulf Arab state.
More than 30 people were taken to hospital. Aqeel Mirza said he was about 100 metres (109 yards) away on a nearby boat when he saw the ship capsize. "The sea was calm - there were no heavy winds or waves," he told Arabiya. "Suddenly, in that instant that we were watching it, the boat overturned very quickly. It just overturned on one side in seconds, and two seconds later the lights went out and then we started hearing the screaming."
It took more than 25 minutes for rescue boats to arrive at the scene, he added. "Most of who died were inside the enclosed restaurant. Those who were on the top deck found it easier to survive because they jumped off the boat and waited for rescue."
Officials said 137 people were on board when the boat capsized. Tourism sources said the vessel had a capacity of 100.
The boat trip was for employees of companies involved in a major construction project in Bahrain and their families.
South African construction firm Murray & Roberts, the leading firm in the project, said that excluding crew, about 120 people were on the dhow.
US and Bahraini officials said there was no indication that the sinking was the result of an attack. "Up to this moment, it appears totally unlikely," information minister Mohammed Abdul-Ghaffar Abdullah said.
Interior ministry spokesman Col Tarek al-Hassan said the ship's captain, who is non-Bahraini, was being investigated. "We need more time . . . we do not want to go into speculation and we need to wait for the result of the official investigation," he told reporters.
Bahraini health ministry official Nabeel al-Ansari said most of those hospitalised had already been discharged. "Initially 33 were brought by rescue teams; 31 were discharged and two have been admitted, both Indian. One Indian has a serious brain injury."
A spokesman for the US navy's 5th Fleet, Cdr Jeff Breslau, said 16 navy divers and a US ship assisted in rescue efforts.